I appologize if this is too elementary for most of you but if anyone can offer some advice I'd most appreciate it. I have a fan that plugs into a standard 120V outlet (3 pronged plug) that I want to control with a timer. I found a very nice timer that's desinged to replace a wall switch (ie, for controlling lights). What I wanted to do is mount it in a dual outlet box next to a 3 pronged outlet and wire in a 3 pronged cord. That way I'd have a "timer box" that I could plug into any outlet in the house which would then control the fan I plug into it.
What's confusing me is that the timer switch comes with 4 wires (black=hot, white=common, red=load, and green=ground). The cord I want to wire in to the switch obviously only has three wires (black = hot, white = common, green = ground) which matches the way I undestand that wall switches get wired. So how do I wire a three pronged plug and outlet to a 4 wired switch? I had assumed that the switch just used three wires and broke the connection of the hot wire to turn my load on and off but apparently this is not the case. I assume that the solution is to wire two of the four wires together but that is just a guess and I don't intend to do anything without some guidance from someone who knows what they are doing. I am very confused and don't want to do something stupid with this circuit!
Thanks for any help.
Jeremy
What's confusing me is that the timer switch comes with 4 wires (black=hot, white=common, red=load, and green=ground). The cord I want to wire in to the switch obviously only has three wires (black = hot, white = common, green = ground) which matches the way I undestand that wall switches get wired. So how do I wire a three pronged plug and outlet to a 4 wired switch? I had assumed that the switch just used three wires and broke the connection of the hot wire to turn my load on and off but apparently this is not the case. I assume that the solution is to wire two of the four wires together but that is just a guess and I don't intend to do anything without some guidance from someone who knows what they are doing. I am very confused and don't want to do something stupid with this circuit!
Thanks for any help.
Jeremy